MARNO'S GAME REVIEWS

My first time judging. I only played seven games, and am looking
forward to replaying some of them and playing others that get good
reviews.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SUPERHERO

I liked the general sense of the game. I couldn't determine for sure
whether the
hero was really super-powered or just a kid with a fired-up
imagination, but
that was okay. As I played the game, though, I got rather tired of the
wordiness
of every description of every thing. Whether it was important to the
game or
not, every thing was given the same weight in description, which I
found too
much. I could tell that the author put a lot of work into it, but the
descriptions
just seemed OVER-worked to me.
I also personally felt lost with so many directions to go in. I don't
like
exploring games so much if there is not some sort of hint as to which
way to go.

After 1 hour of play I decided to quit and scored this game a 6.

01

I really wanted to see a good game here, because I am interested in
ALAN 3.
But this game is not a good game at all. Written in the span of a
week, was it even beta-tested? I am sure it was not. Weak in
descriptions,
verbs, etc., not to mention it gave me no reason to play it, except
that it was
included in the Comp. I quit this game as soon as getting out of the
cell.

After 10 minutes of play I scored this game (as I have no doubt others
will do as
well): 01.

LUMINOUS HORIZON

Wonderful! Fun! I enjoyed the comic feelies, which really helped me
get the sense of
the game. I got stuck in the hangar and could not figure what to do
next within the 2
hours, so I will have to come back to the game later to finish it. I
scored this game a 10.

ZERO

Great graphic at the introduction! I have to say that the numerous
misspellings
and poor punctuation continually disturbed me. A lot.

>talk to the king
I don't recognize that sentence.

Hmm. Not even a "The king doesn't feel like talking right now." Quite
a few
unrecognized objects and such referred to in the game but unrecognized
at all
with simple "look at" commands.

*Keeping with santoonie tradition, there is no walkthru.*

I have to wonder if, in keeping with santoonie tradition, there was no
beta-
testing.

"But," [santoonie continues] "to assist reviewers, a general strategy
is included
herein: Zero is made up of two parts, gather and hunt. During the
gather stage,
within the goblin lair, you must find specific items and place them in
specific
spots, then examine them after placement to activate additional items.
It is
required to visit same locations over and over again. The hunt stage
is more
railroaded, hints not required."

No thank you, not in a Comp. Frankly, I would have given it more of a
try if the
spelling had been better. But I reasoned that if the spelling and
grammar were
not worked out, then perhaps the puzzles were not worked out either.
After 20
minutes of play I scored this game a 2 (that's down 2 from 4 for the
poor spelling
and grammar).

REDEYE (Spoiler)

Another game without benefit of beta-testing, it appears. Bad grammar
and
spelling again. And I can't see the letters as I type! Is the game
using a black
command font on the black background?
The first location of the game says there's a hotel, a store and a
highway.

>x hotel
I don't know the word "hotel".

>x store
I don't know the word "store".

>x highway
I don't know the word "highway".

Not good.

Totally needed the walkthru for the game. For example, "In the
jailcell. Examine
the wash basin. You will find a plastic cup. Fill it with water from
the basin."
How would I have known this? There is no water, no faucet, nothing
like that
described in the game. I had to "fill the cup," but where the water
came from I
don't know. Supposedly from the basin. After throwing the water on the
floor as
instructed by the walkthru, the game froze up. The cursor flashed, but
wouldn't
accept any further commands. Just as well. After an hour of play I
scored this
game a 4. I'd like to take away a point for the foul language, but I
was warned
about it, so I'll leave it at that.

PTBAD3

Does that stand for "pret-tee bad"? Bad spelling, wrong words and such
that tell
me the game was not beta-tested. I wanted to TALK TO an NPC and the
game said "I
don't know the word 'talk.'" Not good. And no walkthrough. And "I
don't know the
word 'hint.' I don't know the word 'help.'" So after fifteen minutes
of play I
scored this game a 2.

A LIGHT'S TALE

I guessed from the ESV quote and the "light and darkness" theme that
there was an
underlying spiritual theme. I looked forward to this theme's
unfolding. But I
felt that the game eventually got mired in the mundane and ordinary.
Spelling
and grammar were very good, I was happy to see that. And game play
worked well.
So after one hour of play I score this game a 5.